(no subject)

[wordinista]

Whoo.  Okay.

So, a lot of y'all might remember the night Tora-kun worked until 2:30 am.  It was also the Night of Much Swearing.

Well, we started talking about that, and how it was going to look like if he stays working for this company, about one week a month is going to have insanely late hours.  And me?  I'm not really comfortable with that.  I know my mother lives next door, but still -- I'm here, and... yeah.  It's not cool.

So... I'm not even sure how it came up, but we started talking about the possibility of getting a puppy.  We've got a pretty good sized house, and a decent sized yard, so space isn't an issue for a small-to-medium sized dog.  So I started researching.  As it happens, my dream breed, the Australian Shepherd, looks like it'd be a perfect fit.  I have the time to devote to training and discipline, which is usually the biggest problem when it comes to dogs.  You don't train it well, or give it enough to do, it's going to get into trouble.

All right, so I start researching breeders in the area, because breeders are people too, and people can be unscrupulous.  It's not as easy as I'd thought, and there are a lot of dead links out there.  And a LOT of breeders' websites are hosted on Geocities/Yahoo.  *headshake*

And a frighteningly large number of them?  Have no concept of site design whatsoever.  Particularly:

http://www.paradigmcanines.com/

and...

http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/wildwindaussies/

Okay, the unfortunate thing is, these two places  might have the Best Dogs Evar.  It's possible.  But their splash pages make me want to choke.  Especially that second one.  Lawd.  I just... words fail me.  Really.

Of course, all of this research is for naught if our landlord says no.  Mrr.  I hope he doesn't say no.  *crosses fingers*  We were tossing around names tonight, and if we pick one of the ones we were tossing around, evilpuppy is going to be vastly amused.

In other news, Tora-kun and I watched Super Size Me tonight, and ... you know, I don't think I'll ever be able to eat at a fast food restaurant ever again.  Ever.  Ever-ever.  OMG GROSS.  It took two months of a vegan diet to undo one month of fast-food eating.  I'm pretty sure I'm too much of a wuss to go vegan -- or vegetarian, for that matter (and I have the utmost respect for anyone who can manage it), but it'll be a damn long time before I ever order pizza and wings again.  I told Tora-kun that movie made me want to run to Wild Oats and shop there forever and ever, amen.  And I don't eat fast food that much (okay, ordering pizza -- and that's so stopping ASAFP), but I was seriously disgusted.  *shudder*

Comments

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was one of the first places I looked. One of the problems I'm finding is that a lot of the sites don't specify whether they deal solely in champions, or if they offer household pets, too. I'm not going to show or breed it -- I just want to spoil it rotten keep it as a pet.

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

*laughs* A woman after my own heart. *looks over at the Lab sprawled across her bed* Yap, worthless.

But really, they probably sell a mix because not every puppy can be a champion. It's that whole genetic crap shoot thing. You might also try talking to Del, she breeds Shelties and can probably give you some pointers on what to look for.

[w0rdinista.livejournal.com]

Yes, Bronte and Kisa are spoiled as hell. The only thing we can't let them do yet is sleep in our room, because they're very much nocturnal, and when we leave the door open, they come in and jump on my head. (Yes, just mine.)

You're right -- I'm sure all of them do sell a mix of pets and show-dogs, but they don't SPECIFY, and that's the frustrating thing. Only one site I found did specify, and they're relatively nearby. I'm trying to find out how reputable THEY are. (I've been in touch with that breeder already, and if all goes well, we'll be visiting the facility sometime after the new year.)

I've found a few lists of "questions to ask your breeder" on various sites -- one of them the American Australian Shepherd Club site, so I'm trying to do my homework and be smart about this. I know that a puppy that's overly shy or timid is a bad sign -- George's mother used to breed miniature Dauschaunds (dunno if I spelled that right, but you get the idea), and they have three dogs now (a Doberman, a Bassett, and a Boxer mix).

[emrlddragon.livejournal.com]

Daisy has to sleep on the bed at night, she's got seperation anxiaty and will distroy the house if we leave her alone.

I haven't ever really looked to a breeder for an animal of any kind, all of mine are rescues.